March 2010

Do You Need A Good Laugh?

My lovely friend, Yamuna Loyal, is a firm advocate of laughter.

As a sound therapist, she knows the benefits it can bring. She has even developed a fab process of clearing out energy blocks in the body, through laughter.

She, like many others, are telling us that laughter can indeed be the best medicine.

The thing is that we often take life FAR too seriously.

We get lost in the sea of “to do” lists, hurrying from one appointment to the next, fretting about things that may never even happen.

I recently read some research that claimed an infant will laugh up to 200 times per day. By the time we’re adults, we’re lucky to manage 10.

What’s going on?

Isn’t it time to lighten up?!

The problem with being constantly stressed and worrying is that:

It’s bad for our health
It reduces our ability to think clearly
It makes us less efficient
It takes the joy and spark out of life
It leads to more worry and stress

The funny thing about laughing is that:

It’s contagious – once one person starts, it spreads around a room
It transforms everyone it touches. You CANNOT laugh and feel miserable at the same time
It releases endorphins, (or little dolphins, as my friend’s son used to say!) into your bloodstream, giving you a very natural high
The endorphins reduce your stress levels and have been scientifically shown to reduce the symptoms of illness
Laughter shifts your thoughts to a more positive vibe, so your day improves, exponentially

And the great thing is that we could choose to spend our day laughing our way through our tasks, just as easily as grumping!

So, to inspire you and give you a helping hand towards laughing-out-loud-till-you-cry-type-belly-laughs, here are 3 videos I’ve found that contain infectious laughter.

Hopefully you’ll find, as you watch them, that you can’t help but join in.

Laughter really is an amazing healer!

How about starting your own laughter collection? Videos? YouTube? Funny books? Anything that makes you laugh out loud! Got some good resource ideas? Please share them via the comments box!

We’re going to be collecting a YouTube playlist of our favourite laughter videos, so make sure you have subscribed to our Beyond Alchemy YouTube channel, to catch them all!

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter,

Clare x

It doesn’t matter if you don’t speak German, this weather presenter’s laughter is contagious!

This baby’s laugh is wonderful. Guaranteed to bring a ray of sunshine to your day!

And for something different, how about laughing yoga?!!

Please do share your favourite laughter tips via the comments box!

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Inspirational Messages

“If at first you don’t succeed, try something different?”

How often in life do we “try, try, try again”?

One of my favourite places to spot this behaviour is the London underground.

Regular commuters place their Oyster cards on the card reader at the barriers. Tourists then copy this behaviour with their standard tickets, but can’t get through, because they need to put their ticket through the ticket reader slot. Instead of trying something different, looking around for another behaviour that might work or asking for help, they just keep placing their ticket on the Oyster reader, expecting each time that the barrier will miraculously open.

The look of confusion and disbelief on their faces is priceless… (Yes, I do eventually go over and offer to help 😉 )

The problem is usually that we “try” the same thing, over and over again, expecting different results each time. It is said that it’s a sign of insanity, yet we’re all doing it, whether it’s in trying to achieve our goals or handling reltaionships!

It’s a classic mind trick!

Maybe it’s because someone told us to do it that way. Or perhaps it’s a strategy we learnt when young.

Fact: if what we’re doing isn’t working, keeping on doing it is unlikely to produce the result we want.

Is there something in your life right now that might benefit from a different approach?

Feel free to share your thoughts via the comments!

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter.

Namaste,

Clare

P.S. This article is courtesy of The Little Book Of Daily Sunshine – want some more? www.DailySunshine.com

Are You Too Hung Up On Feeling Happier?

Inspirational Messages

“Take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.“

P. D. Stanhope

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the task of feeling happier.

Sometimes, knowing the challenges we face day-to-day and longer term, the idea of always trying to stay positive and think uplifting thoughts can put us off from even trying.

Yet how different would it be if we only focused on feeling happier for the next minute?

Just sixty seconds. A bit less pressure?

Then we could move on to the next minute. And the next one.

And before you know it… 🙂

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter.

With love,

Clare x

This article is courtesy of The Little Book Of Daily Sunshine – to find out more : www.DailySunshine.com

Are You Making Too Big A Deal Out Of Feeling Happier?

Inspirational Messages

Welcome to Daily Sunshine.

Have you ever noticed how feeling happier can become a real challenge?

Sometimes it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the prospect of having to make so many changes in our life.

P.D. Stanhope offers wonderful advice, with today’s Daily Sunshine inspiration.

In fact, his suggestion makes the whole thing so much easier!

Are You Feeling Grumpy?

Inspirational Messages

Today’s Daily Sunshine message is all about feeling grumpy and why “negative emotions” can be a good thing!

“It’s ok to feel grumpy.”

How often, when we’re on a personal development path, do we give ourselves a hard time for feeling grumpy, angry, fed up or any other negative emotion?

We beat ourselves up and the scary “should” (or “shouldn’t”) word often takes over inside.

Yet resisting emotions is pointless. They’re just an indicator of whether things are in alignment or not. Trying to pretend the “bad” ones don’t exist is like trying to make it stop raining. Futile and pointless.

Instead, how about acknowledging the emotion – not diving into the drama – but accepting it and using it as the signpost / early warning sign that it truly is.

If you’re feeling cross and fed up, it means that something is out of kilter and you either need to make changes or make yourself heard.

That’s all.

In that way, “negative” emotions could actually be a good thing.

What do you think?

How about sharing via the comments box below?

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter.

Namaste,

Clare

Are you wise or courageous?

Inspirational Messages

“A wise man sees his own faults. A courageous man corrects them.” ~ Chinese Proverb

I have lost count of the number of courses I have been on, the number of books I have read and the number of CDs I have listened to, all with the aim of becoming wise enough to see my “faults”!

Yet real transformation only takes place when we have the courage to take action – to make changes.

Are there any changes you could start with today, to turn your wisdom into courageous action?

Wishing you a day full of sunshine and laughter!

Namaste,

Clare

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